1. Field of Invention
The current invention concerns a method for treatment of diseases caused by deficiency or overproduction of the vitamin D.sub.3 metabolites. In particular, the current invention concerns therapeutic properties of 1.alpha.,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.sub.3 analogs which are selective agonists or antagonists for thegenomic and rapid nongenomic cellular responses affecting calcium and phosphorus absorption, resorption, mineralization, collagen maturation of bone and tubular reabsorption of phosphorus. The analogs of the invention are useful for treatment of bone diseases such as rickets, osteomalacia, osteoporosis, osteopenia, osteosclerosis, renal osteodystrophy; skin diseases, such as psoriasis; thyroid diseases, such as medullary carcinoma; brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease; parathyroid diseases, such as hyperparathyroidism, hypoparathyroidism, pseudoparathyroidism or secondary parathyroidism; liver and pancreas diseases, such as diabetes, cirrhosis, obstructive jaundice or drug-induced metabolism; intestine diseases, such as glucocorticoid antagonism, idiopathic hypercalcemia, malabsorption syndrome, steatorrhea, or tropical sprue; kidney disease, such as chronical renal disease, hypophosphatemic vitamin D-resistant rickets or vitamin D-dependent rickets; lung diseases, such as sarcoidosis; and for treatment of any other disease in which 1.alpha.,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.sub.3 or its pro-drugs are involved.